1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to heat dissipation devices and, more particularly, to a heat dissipation device for dissipating heat generated by an electronic component.
2. Description of Related Art
With the increasing development of computer technology, electronic components such as central processing units (CPUs) of computers are being made to work at higher operational speeds and to have greater functional capabilities. When an electronic component operates at high speed, it frequently generates large amounts of heat. The heat must be quickly removed from the electronic component to prevent it from becoming unstable or being damaged. Typically, a heat dissipation device is attached to an outer surface of the electronic component to absorb heat from the electronic component. The heat absorbed by the heat dissipation device is then dissipated to ambient air.
The heat dissipation device typically includes a heat sink made of aluminum, and a fan mounted on a top of the heat sink. The heat sink includes a solid core and a plurality of fins integrally projecting outwardly from the core. Due to the characteristics of the aluminum extrusion process, it is difficult to obtain compact fins or thin fins. Thus the heat dissipating efficiency of the heat dissipation device is limited. In this situation, in order to improve the heat dissipating capability, the volume of the heat sink is increased, thereby increasing the heat dissipating surface area of the heat dissipation device.
However, most electronic components are following the trend toward miniaturization. When a small electronic component is installed in a device such as a computer, usually only a little heat-dissipation space adjacent to the electronic component is available. Thus the above-described higher-volume heat dissipation device is not suitable for miniaturized applications. How to improve the heat dissipating efficiency of a heat dissipation device used in a small heat-dissipation space is an ongoing challenge in the art.
What is needed, therefore, is a heat dissipation device which is usable in a limited heat-dissipation space and which has good heat dissipating efficiency.